BARRY admits taking his new club Clyde to his spiritual footballing home for a Petrofac Training Cup tie will be a strange experience for him.

Barry will return to Ibrox but will be in the away dressing room with Cyde

THE away dressing room at Ibrox. A place where my dream of playing for Rangers was born.

Later this month I will return there, looking to continue my way in management.

Having spent 11 years as a Rangers first-team player you might think the visitors’ dressing room would be alien to me.

But far from it – every morning it was the place where the young boys would get changed for training.

I was only 15 and starting out as a professional under youth and reserve team coaches John Brown and John McGregor.

So it’s fair to say that dressing room is a place I know fairly well and I will be proud to walk back in there as Clyde manager a week on Monday.

It’s certainly going to be a strange experience, returning to Ibrox as part of the opposition.

As soon as Rangers beat Hibs in extra time on Tuesday night to confirm our trip to Ibrox for the next round of the Petrofac Training Cup I started to think about it.

Until Tuesday I didn’t allow myself to think about going back to Ibrox because I felt it would have been disrespectful to Hibs.

When the draw was made pairing Clyde with either Rangers or Hibs friends bombarded me with text messages about going back to Ibrox but I told them the same thing – don’t count your chickens.

But now it is a reality I can talk about. The first thing that dawned on me is it will be the first time in my entire life I have wanted Rangers to lose.

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Clyde is now the No.1 priority for Barry

I know that might seem obvious but it’s strange for me when I think of my association with the club, as a fan growing up then as a player and captain and considering theirs is the first result I look for – even now – after my own since I left.

I have always wanted Rangers to win every game possible but I guess I’ll have to make this one exception. This is a different ball game – I’m on the opposite side now, I’m trying to build a managerial career.

When I walk through the front doors of Ibrox as Clyde boss it will be for the first time in a professional capacity since my last match there as a player just over five years ago.

Saturday, May 16, 2009 was the date – a 2-1 win over Aberdeen. I came on as a sub for Pedro Mendes an hour into that second last game of the season and it proved a vital three points as we pipped Celtic to the title with victory at Tannadice the following week.

I knew when I left the stadium that day it would be for the last time as a player. To be honest, I knew a few months before that match I was going but it was still hard when it happened. I’d left before to join Blackburn but I knew that day it was final. It was emotional. I turned and had a quick look at the main doors as I left.

Men are quite proud and you don’t want people seeing you get upset. I held it together but once I got into my car I let it all go and cried. But deep down I knew the time was right.

I had to get away and rebuild my career. I had to get back to concentrating on playing football and did that in England.

I have been back a number of times to watch games. I’m proud to have played there and captained Rangers and walked the team out on loads of occasions.

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Barry celebrates a title win in 2009 with Ally McCoist and Lee McCulloch

When I returned with team-mates at clubs I’d moved to it was great to say, ‘This was my home for 20 years’.

That’s why it’s going to be strange to stand in the away dugout. I’ll look at the opposite technical area and see Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant, two heroes of mine as a kid, and Kenny McDowall who I worked with after he came across from Celtic.

I have so much respect for all of them and it will be nice to see their faces. Hopefully they’ll invite me in for a beer or glass of wine once it’s all over. To be honest it will be nice to walk through the front doors because I haven’t done that for a couple of years – my season ticket is for another part of the ground.

I don’t know what kind of reception I’ll get. I’m still a Rangers fan. Some people have gone back and not had a great reception while others have. I’ll certainly get a warm welcome from the 100-plus people I have tickets for.

It’s hard to know where a victory for Clyde would rank among my best Ibrox moments. It’s different as a manager. I don’t want the build-up to be all about me going back – it’s all about Clyde as a club. My main concern is the boys do themselves justice. I’m not into all this going and having a great day out and “let’s enjoy the occasion”.

We need to express ourselves and show how far we’ve come, what we’re trying to do and how we’re playing.

There are boys in my squad who can go a level or two higher. This will be a great test for them.

I’m not sure what the crowd will be – it was only 18,000 against Hibs – but it doesn’t matter because you’re playing in an unbelievable arena and the surface is like a bowling green.

Rangers have a lot of good players and on their day can be a good team but everyone has an off day.

We’ll have a go, that’s for sure. We’re not expected to win so the pressure is all on Rangers.